Y'know people are interesting, a couple of people have called me crazy, and pointed out the flaws in my trip planning. I like going, I don't like sitting still for long, and I do not have the knees for long hikes.

This trip report has also inspired me to head back up there. I was thinking about heading to the North East, checkout far eastern Canada, but I am going to put that off for at least a year or two.

I also went a bit too scenic on my way North last time. Wanted to see Old Faithful and Glacier National Park. Bother where good, Old Faithful took a lot of time to get in and out of the park, probably wasted close to 1/2 a day.

This time I am going I am going to limit the sight seeing in the lower 48 to the 4 corners, HWY 95 in Utah, and Lewiston Idaho. Basically, a reasonably straight line from where I live to Hope, BC Basically I want to avoid any place that is going to have traffic slowdowns, and keep off the interstates.

Anyway, my trip is looking to be close to 11,000 miles in about 19 days. With a 1000 mile day at the beginning and end. Or about an average of 578 miles/day. Many call that insane. Oh well, it ain't their trip.

That is all to say, ride your ride. I think I've heard that a thousand times, and have said it hundreds of times. I know many riders who like to enjoy long meals, evening drinks, lounging at pools/lakes along the way, but that is not me.

Thanks a lot Dave - and Soph9 with the Tigers - and all the rest of the RR's I've read here. Mention the ADV to a Harley rider and they just look confused. Retired last July and started planning the Alaska trip. I'll arrive in Fairbanks the 3rd week of June. If the Harley runs and the weather holds, head up the Dalton a ways.....

Your trips are amazing. If I have half as much fun as you did it will be a good trip.

Dave & Helen, what a monster trip. I've spent part of the last 2 days reading it and saving some of the photography websites and links to go back and hopefully improve my photo skills. Helen is a real trooper to deal with the miles, weather, camping or sleeping locations, impressive. Did she ever reply to the RR about her "take" of the trip, it would be a great read. Thanks again for creating such a masterpiece. The hook for a trip to AK has definately been baited, I'm not sure my Wing is the bike for it!! Thanks,

Yes, Helen is a trooper.
She doesn't think she's a trooper for any of the reasons you listed though.
She says she is a trooper for putting up with me.

Camera-Melting Trooper

As an update, we finally could afford all of the parts and supplies needed to get the bike back into running shape in November.
The last of the back-ordered parts arrived today! Yipee! I hard hardly wait.
I tore into the bike earlier this week to find plenty of Dalton Highway grunge.

Some of the New Parts

I hope to see some reports this summer from all of you guys heading up to Alaska. Now is a great time to start planning.

Dave and Helen aka Supertroooper, thank you for the RR. I started reading yesterday afternoon and now have tired eyes after pausing at 0130. 0930 has me at the end of your journey (incuding the videos). My lovely wive and daughter are doing the ride from Spokane in summer 2013. Thank you very much. Entertaining story line, amazing photos, and insightful comments Thank you for your service as well. Wilk 91B, 62O, 65D

Wow. Finished just before the Super Bowl. Great R/R and very nice pictures! What was your wife's overall impression of distance touring? I'll be heading up in late May through June. My wife thinks I'm nuts.

As everyone has said previously AWESOME pictures and RR. I have literally been reading this thread nonstop for a couple days now. Read everything, even the comments at the end! Great job on the entire report man it was truly inspiring! I plan to do a similar trip next August but just to Canada with my girlfriend! Her cousins live there and one is getting married so seems like the perfect opportunity for a long journey!

Couple questions for you though:
1) what sw did you use to edit the vids? I have tried a couple but all aren't very practical to cut out multiple sections of a long video.
2)did you do anything to the suspension in order to allow the extra weight of the passenger and luggage? why or why not?

y0y02369, For video editing I used the Windows Live Movie Maker. I actually downloaded some trial versions of other software. I think it was the Sony software I liked using, but it was really more than I needed, so I never bought it.

The rear spring on the KTM was firm enough. Before the trip I put in stiffer fork springs. I needed the upgrade even for solo riding as I am more than a little weighty and when full the Safaris add ~70 pounds over stock. I tested the new springs solo over a couple hundred miles of varying terrain and thought it was good, but we had some handling issues that I didn't get figured out and sorted until Washington. The suspension was a magic carpet ride on the Dalton. Solo and without luggage the forks are quite stiff and harsh now. I should probably re-valve in order to get the range of adjustment needed, but I usually travel with full panniers.

mechahayai, I was really surprised at how tough Helen was on this trip. I complained more than she did. She has only been on one other multiple day ride, so this was new to her. She still talks about how much fun we had. The long miserable days are the ones we both remember the best.

Thanks for all of the comments everyone! I hope you are getting your Alaska trip plans together.

y0y02369, For video editing I used the Windows Live Movie Maker. I actually downloaded some trial versions of other software. I think it was the Sony software I liked using, but it was really more than I needed, so I never bought it.

The rear spring on the KTM was firm enough. Before the trip I put in stiffer fork springs. I needed the upgrade even for solo riding as I am more than a little weighty and when full the Safaris add ~70 pounds over stock. I tested the new springs solo over a couple hundred miles of varying terrain and thought it was good, but we had some handling issues that I didn't get figured out and sorted until Washington. The suspension was a magic carpet ride on the Dalton. Solo and without luggage the forks are quite stiff and harsh now. I should probably re-valve in order to get the range of adjustment needed, but I usually travel with full panniers.

Thanks for all of the comments everyone! I hope you are getting your Alaska trip plans together.

Oh awesome! I have a mac so I tried the equivalent to that. I probably just dont know how to use it well enough.

Ok that makes sense. For my first trip I won't be doing too much offroad so hopefully stock will be good. I am quite thin and so is the girlfriend so we'll see!